The Student and the Cat
by ItalianMustache
Summary: A kind medical student goes out to search for the one thing that will help him further his career and meets a cat along the way. Based on the Grimm fairy tale "The Poor Miller's Boy and the Cat" which can be read at


In a well-to-do hospital there was a medical doctor and his three students. The medical doctor was retiring and so the hospital had an open slot for one of the three. The doctor decreed that the student that brought the best quality of morphine for a limited amount of money would succeed him. The last student however, was the ever-sympathetic John who the others thought was an idiot for caring for everyone they didn't have to care for. All three students set out to search for the medicine the doctor tasked them to find, and when they reached the center of the city they turned towards John.

"You might as well stay in the city Watson, you are sure to be duped by the worst liar here." Following them further into the city, the other two students gave John the slip leaving him in one of the darkest parts of the city.

John thought, "Great, now I'm lost in the part of the city that I was told no to wander into and as such, one that I am no familiar with." Deciding to keep moving forward in the face of his fear, John walked until he happened upon a sleek,black cat.  
"Do you wish for help with your task John?" the cat asked.  
Surprised, John looked for the source of the voice after quickly dismissing the cat as the originator of the voice.

Locating no one in the vicinity, John looked back at the cat and was surprised when the cat hissed, "Yes I said that!"

Getting over the initial shock of a cat talking John exclaimed, "That's amazing!"

The cat scrunched up its face and murmured, "That's not what people usually say."

"What do they normally say?" John inquired.

"Piss off!" quipped the cat.

Lips quirking at the cat's response John pondered the cats earlier offer and asked, "Just how would you know the matter at hand and how could you possibly help me?"

The cat allowed a fang to descend and replied, "The same way I know that you are a medical student along with two others and that you have been set upon a task to prove your worth. As to your second question, I will allow you to find out in exchange for your help for seven years and I will throw in the best morphine the world over."  
As soon as the cat said his final world he started down the road without looking back. John thought for awhile and decided that the best shot he had of becoming the doctor's replacement is if he followed this strange and wonderful cat for how could a cat as smart as this one not have a solution to his problem. So the cat took John with him into an enchanted castle near the beginning of the nearby forest and inside were numerous types of cats who seemed to serve the cat John followed here. The servant cats were nimble and fast but also looked happy to be doing the chores around the castle. When John and the original cat -whom John named Sherlock because of the rarity of a talking cat- sat down for dinner and was served by one of the Camille Mau's -whom John named Angelo- three new cats entered the dining room and started playing music. The first cat played the piano which was situated at the far end of the room, the second played the viola, and the third tried his best to play the trumpet.

The table they were seated at was carried away and as Sherlock jumped off the box and padded next to John he demanded, "Dance with me John."  
"No I will not Sherlock, you promised me a solution to my problem which would not include dancing." John replied.  
Turning around and huffing, Sherlock flicked his tail and addressed the servants to take John to bed. One cat lighted him to the room that was his, one took his shoes off, one his socks, and the last blew out the candle on the bedside. The next morning after John had taken a shower, the same cats from last night came back and, as before, one puts on his socks and one dried his face with her tail.

John however had to do as Sherlock commanded which involved him fetching items for Sherlock, discussing the various medical things he had learned under the doctor, and making sure Sherlock ate for Sherlock claimed that it was a useless distraction. After a while, John noticed that there were no other living things inside the castle besides himself, Sherlock, and the servants.  
Seven years went by as quick as if it was six months to John. Sherlock, seeming out of the blue, one day inquired to if John would like to see his laboratory and what he held inside of it. Trying to recall if he had seen some sort of room like that in the castle and coming up negative John quickly told Sherlock he would be honored to see it. Moving briskly through the hallways in the one part of the castle he had not explored thoroughly, John and Sherlock walked until they reached a black, firm door which Sherlock signaled John to open. As he opened the door, John was greeted by a sight of many scientific experiments with medical drugs and equipment that would rival the hospital John was apprenticing in. Examining the different solutions in the test tubes, John spotted what looked to him as a tube of morphine. As he approached it however, Sherlock moved in front f it and informed him it would be ready in three days time.

Flicking his tail towards the table farthest away from the experiments, Sherlock indicateded a meal inside what apeare to be a lunchbox and said, "Go back to your hospital, when the morphine is ready in three days I will come deliver it to you." Exiting the castle's front door, John looked back once more and set off in the direction he came from seven years ago. When he reached the hospital and his mentor's examination room, he saw that each apprentice had brought a bottle of morphine with their name labeled on it and were currently testing the contents. One bottle of morphine was half morphine and half wine while the other was pure heroin. Looking ashamed but smug because they had at least brought something while John had not they asked where John's bottle was.

"I have arranged that it be delivered in three days time." John replied.

They both looked at each other and laughed and after their merry pointed out, "Poor, trusting, idiotic Watson, where is this bottle coming from? The rubbish bin?"

"It will no doubt better better than your attempts at obtaining medical supplies." John assured.

When the three days had passed a top of the line sports car had parked in front of the hospital and no one could determine who it belonged to. At last the driver side of the car had opened and out came what many -including John- mistook for a male model, for he had beautiful black curls, alabaster skin, a tight purple shirt, and a unbuttoned suit on top. This 'model' came straight up to John and presented a bottle of morphine for this was the cat John had been a helper to. Sherlock wished to see the other student's bottles of morphine so John guided him through the building to the examination room where Sherlock observed the other bottles and easily tore down the walls the others had about their bottles being superior. Handing the bottle Sherlock gave to him to the doctor, John waited for the results of the test. When it came back to be the best bottle of morphine out of the three John was offered the position in the hospital. Sherlock interrupted the proceedings by ushering John out the door while yelling that John was to be Sherlock's personal doctor and into the passenger side of the car and drove away. They drove to the castle him and Sherlock had shared for those seven years and which Sherlock had christened 221B, moving to intercept John from opening the door Sherlock had got on one knee and proposed to John on the spot. John of course accepted and they married, John became rich, gained a nosy brother-in-law, and helped Sherlock solve mysteries all around the world. After this,  
let no one ever say that anyone who is trusting can never become a person of importance to that very special person.


End file.
